(1) (fl. third century B.C.E.) Prince of Thales This prince fell victim to the political intrigues of ARSINOE (2), the sister of PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS (r. 285–246 B.C.E.). The son of King LYSIMACHUS, he was the ranking heir to the throne of Thrace, a region in the modern southeastern Balkans. Agathocles faced the political cunning of Arsinoe. She married Lysimachus and bore him two children, viewing Agathocles as an obstacle to the throne. He became the object of ridicule and rumors in the court of Thrace, all designed to isolate him and to alienate him from his father. Arsinoe and her followers then accused him of treason, claiming he was bent on murdering Lysimachus and taking the throne. Lysimachus believed the accusation and executed Agathocles. Arsinoe did not benefit from the death, however. When Lysimachus died, she faced her own tragic consequences seeing her sons barred from inheriting and having to flee to her half brother. The governor of Pergamum (modern Bergama in Turkey), so horrified by the unjust treatment of the Thracian prince, started a campaign of military retribution against Lysimachus. Thrace fell to the Seleucids of Syria as a result.
Agathocles
(2) (d. c. 205 B.C.E.) Court official and conspirator of the Ptolemaic Period
He became powerful in the court in the reign of PTOLEMY V EPIPHANES (r. 205–180 B.C.E.). Agathocles joined forces with a courtier named SOSIBIUS in a palace coup in ALEXANDRIA, the capital of Egypt. Ambitious and eager to control Ptolemy V, who was quite young, Agathocles and Sosibius murdered the king’s mother, ARSINOE (3). Agathocles served as regent for the orphaned king, but he was unable to hold power.
Governor TLEPOLEMUS of the city of PELUSIUM (near modern Port Said in Egypt) was so enraged by the murder of Queen Arsinoe that he marched on Alexandria with his frontier army. Along the way, Tlepolemus
announced his intentions to the Egyptian people, who left their villages to swell the ranks of his forces. An angry horde of Egyptians thus faced Agathocles at the palace in the capital. He resigned on the spot and hurried home to prepare for a flight out of the city. Ptolemy V was carried to a large arena in Alexandria, surrounded by Tlepolemus’s troops. There the Egyptians bowed before the young king, swearing their loyalty. The governor then demanded retribution for the death of Queen Arsinoe, and Ptolemy V agreed. A crowd raced to Agathocles’ home, where they beat him to death along with his entire family.
